Habitat for Humanity Archives - 91��Ƶ News

91��Ƶ remembers legacy of Jimmy Carter

Ryan Cornell — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 17:36:32 +0000

This story has been updated to add a missing graduation year.

91��Ƶ joins the nation in mourning the late former President Jimmy Carter, who was known for his humility, strong Christian faith, and lifelong dedication to service, peace and human rights.

Carter, president from 1977-81, died on Dec. 29, 2024, at 100. Jan. 9, 2025, has been declared a National Day of Mourning to honor his legacy.

His wife of 77 years, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, spoke at 91��Ƶ’s (then Eastern Mennonite College) 68th annual Commencement on May 4, 1986.

“Jimmy and I have come to admire and love the Mennonites through our involvement with Habitat for Humanity,” she said during the commencement speech.

It was Donald and Faye Nyce, parents of 91��Ƶ alumni Ed ’86, Pam ’86 and Doug ’85, who introduced the Carters to the Habitat for Humanity organization, the former First Lady said. Donald and Faye Nyce volunteered at the organization’s headquarters in Americus, Georgia, and attended the Carters’ church in Plains.

“We developed some very close friendships with them… we came to love them very much when they were in our part of the world,” Rosalynn Carter said. “And it was through them that we learned about your [the Mennonites’] tradition of volunteer service.”

A full transcript of her speech can be read .

In a 1986 , the Nyces described the Carters as strong Christians who were supporters of civil rights “long before a civil rights stand became the popular thing.”

“Jimmy was our Sunday school teacher,” Faye Nyce is quoted in the article. “We were surprised, then delighted and pleased with his knowledge and application of the Bible.”

For former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, the visit to Eastern Mennonite College in 1986 was a time to renew acquaintance with the Donald and Faye Nyce family. Two of the Nyce children, Pam and Ed, were members of the EMC class of 1986, while Doug graduated in 1985. The friendship between the former president and first lady and Donald and Faye Nyce began during a volunteer service assignment in Americus, Georgia. From left: Pam, Don, Faye and Ed Nyce, Carter, Doug Nyce and his wife, Dawn Mumaw Nyce.

Former EMC President Myron Augsburger spoke at a ceremony honoring former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter on Sept. 21, 2009. (Photo courtesy of JMU)

A little more than two decades later, in 2009, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter received the Global Nonviolence Award from the Mahatma Gandhi Center at James Madison University. Former EMC President Myron Augsburger spoke at a ceremony honoring the Carters, and 91��Ƶ’s Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir (SVCC) sang at the ceremony.

The Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir, a program of 91��Ƶ, sings for Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter at James Madison University in 2009. (Photo courtesy of JMU)

In a recent Facebook post, Ken J. Nafziger, professor emeritus of 91��Ƶ Music, shared his memories of meeting Jimmy Carter when the Chamber Singers were invited to sing at his church.

Falling backwards into God’s calling

Lauren Jefferson — Thu, 01 Jan 2015 18:10:57 +0000

Dan Shenk-Evans ’92 characterizes his career in technology as “falling backwards” into God’s calling. For years, every position he sought in direct social ministry eventually led him reluctantly to a computer, where he would quickly solve IT problems and streamline organizational workflow.

“I wasn’t sure I would find meaningful work in computer science. I thought I should be in direct service, and I tried to find a way to do that kind of work, but it wasn’t what I was best at,” said Shenk-Evans.

Now director of information technologies at the Capital Area Food Bank, Shenk-Evans oversees the technological systems within a new 123,000-square-foot warehouse and office that provide food to more than 500 partner agencies, which in turn feed 478,000 people in the Washington D.C. metro area. His goal is to develop technology as a strategic asset so that more hungry adults and children can be reached.

And while he may not be meeting those hungry people face-to-face every day, Shenk-Evans says his work is enriching and fulfilling. “At some point, I’ve decided to be at peace with the idea that I’m a technologist,” he said. “That is how I serve. It took me 15 years to be able to say that: I am good at this. I’m not a spokesman or a fundraiser. I’m a mission-focused technologist and this is my contribution to society.”

Now Shenk-Evans can tell his story of “running away from computers” with a sense of humor. In his first year of Mennonite Voluntary Service (MVS), he turned down a computer teaching position in Jamaica in favor of an agency liaison position at the Capital Area Food Bank.

“Almost immediately, someone was programming a custom inventory management system and he needed help,” Shenk-Evans said. “Within a few weeks, I was the database administrator.”

At the end of his first MVS year, he requested a different part-time position and was placed in a job referral program at the Spanish Catholic Center. “Again, I was trying to get away from computers, but I have a tendency to want to make things as efficient as possible, so I developed a database so they could track applicants, jobs, and employers.”

In the ensuing years, Shenk-Evans earned a Master’s of Divinity at Duke, which included taking a restorative justice course at 91��Ƶ, and took a two-year stint as executive director of a Habitat for Humanity affiliate. There, his true aptitudes emerged.

“No matter what I did at this small non-profit, the IT work always fell on me,” he said. “I spent two years automating our office to make our organization more efficient. I set up the first email system, [and] the first network, and implemented a database to track our mortgages.”

Finally, a friend pointed out that his strengths – administrative and IT experience with non-profits – would be useful at his company, Community IT Innovators. From 2000 to 2010, Shenk-Evans was a senior consultant with CITI (described further on page 12). Then he returned to the Capital Area Food Bank as its first full-time IT director. Shenk-Evans now supervises a staff of three: a GIS specialist, an information systems manager, and a network administrator.

Asked what advice he would give others following in his footsteps, Shenk-Evans said:

For a long time, I had a narrow definition of what meaningful work was. I thought direct service was the most important way to help. Then when I tried to do it, I found out that I wasn’t very good at it. I had other skills. If you’re trying to do something that is outside your true skill set, you won’t be as effective at your work. Keep your mind and heart open to different ways to serve. Keep in mind that you’ll only be happy if you use your gifts to the good. Try to find the intersections between what the world needs, your gifts and God’s calling.

Professor honored for forty years of dedication to social work education

Randi B. Hagi — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 21:14:06 +0000

looks back over a lifetime of dedication to social work and recognizes the early influence of her family in creating an awareness of the needs of others. In the 1950s, her uncle pastored an interracial church where blacks and whites worshipped together and respected each other, her mother reached out to neighbors experiencing difficulties, and her dad valued learning about different people and places.

In the 1960s, Jane and the rest of the Wenger family joined a national grape boycott in support of farm workers’ demands for fair pay and better working conditions. Early on, these experiences created a passion for social justice that instilled in her the desire “to do what I could do for the betterment of all people,” she said.

Clemens’ desire has led to a 40-year career in , including 17 years as an associate professor at 91��Ƶ (91��Ƶ). Her dedication was recently recognized by the Virginia Social Work Educators’ Consortium. At their annual “Rally in the Valley” this fall, Clemens was awarded the Ann Meyers’ Lifetime Contribution to Social Work Education Award.

“I feel surprised and humbled to be chosen to receive this award by my colleagues,” Clemens said. “It is a tremendous honor and I am very grateful. I value the opportunity to teach emerging social work professionals about ways to work toward social and economic justice in our world, and to receive this honor for my contribution is very rewarding.”

Besides expertise and teaching skills, Clemens also brings personal investment to her students – a quality recognized by her colleagues in the at 91��Ƶ.

“She helps students understand that self-care is a cornerstone of the ability to care in a sustainable professional life over the long term,” wrote professors and and professor emeritus Elroy Miller in their nomination of Clemens.

Former students of Clemens shared their appreciation of her shaping influence upon hearing of the recognition.

“She was one of those professors who considered the personal development of students to be just as important as the professional development,” said Chaska Yoder’ 14, who is serving Habitat for Humanity with the service learning organization . “Jane often talked about the importance of seeing the gifts and skills that clients bring to the helping process. This strength-based approach goes hand in hand with the asset-based approach to community development that I’m currently working with in Pittsburgh.”

Clemens was also a social worker in Pennsylvania – notably, working in a prenatal clinic years ago as part of a team dedicated to reducing the infant mortality rate. In Philadelphia, certain areas had a disproportionate infant mortality rate, and Clemens’ team spread awareness about prenatal resources and worked to break down barriers between families and health care.

Clemens has also worked in retirement communities and a school for children with disabilities in Pennsylvania, participated in Mennonite voluntary service on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana, and promoted continued education for adolescents in Ohio. During her 2012 sabbatical, Clemens lived and worked with low-income families in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

A lifetime of hands-on work and anecdotes has enriched Clemens’ teaching style for students such as Litza Laboriel ’14. “Her experience and passion for helping others motivated me throughout my time at 91��Ƶ,” said Laboriel.

Alicia Horst ’01, MDiv ’06, executive director of , also remembers Clemens fondly. “Jane taught a caring way of being that calmly listens and lowers potential anxiety in the room,” says Horst. “She brings a gentle curiosity and laid-back conversation.”

Seeing her former students in leadership positions and advocacy roles in the field of social work is “extremely rewarding,” Clemens says. People go from being students to colleagues, and some, like Horst, now supervise current practicum students. Clemens sees this stage of her life’s work – contributing to students’ education – as the planting of seeds. Her students go on to sow and cultivate exponentially more social work ‘fruit’ than even Clemens did in her proliferous career.

Clemens’ personal values of social justice and peace led her both to a profession and to teaching at 91��Ƶ. “We work at social justice as a community,” she said. “To empower students to go out and work for social change” is the capstone of a vocation spanning decades.

Spring Break Y-Trips: A Labor of Love

Mike Zucconi — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:14:59 +0000

Instead of sun, sand and surf, they will head to the inner cities or coal towns to perform a labor of love, doing so willingly and with much satisfaction.

Every year for spring break, several student groups spend the nine-day period doing service projects in various locales in the states – under the Young People’s Christian Association (YPCA) umbrella – instead of going home or heading to warmer climes.

2012 groups and destinations

(engaging God’s transformative work in the city) in Chicago
co-leaders: Susan Peck and Litza Laboriel
(joint urban missionary partners in the Bronx, N.Y.) March 3-7 and (empowering youth to serve Christ in the city) March 7-11
co-leaders: Jamila Witmer and Nicole Groff
(housing construction and repair) in New Orleans
co-leaders: Erica Wagner and Mindy Esworthy
(social change regarding dirty coal) in Appalachia, Va.
co-leaders: Jacob Mack-Boll & Meg Smeltzer

Volleyball Program Helps with Habitat for Humanity

Mike Zucconi — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0000

The 91��Ƶ men

Habitat for Humanity Archives - 91����Ƶ News